Hosiery.



L. A. COSTELLO. HOSIERYI APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1, 1910.

976,555. Patented N0v. 22, 1910.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LORETTO -A. COSTELLO, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO SCOTT & WILLIAMS, INCORPORATED, 0F CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

HOSIERY.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented N V. 22, 1910.

Application filed June 1, 1910. Serial No. 564,509.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LORETTO A. COSTELLO, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Hosiery, of which the following is a specification.

My inventlon relates to stockings, or those parts of stockings which are composed of plain knitted web as distinguished from ribbed web, the object of my invention being to prevent the raveling of the web in the di rection in which the knitting progressed, in the event of the cutting, breaking or wear ing away of the stitches at a point beyond, or in the reverse direction from, that at which'such preventive means is located.

This object I attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawmg, in which flat web having Figure 1 represents a stocking embodying my invention; Fig. 2 the foot portion of a stocking of another type in which my invention is embodied, and Figs. 3, l, 5 and 6 are exaggerated views illustrating a number of different forms of stitches which may be used in carrying out my invention.

My invention is applicable to single or plain web' stockings of any of the usual types and having the leg portion composed either of a continuous tubular web or of a its edges united at the rear of the stocking.

The invention is applicable to'stockings having at the top a turned welt either united integrally with the leg web or formed by turning inward the upper portion of the leg web and sewing the inturned edge to the said web at a point below the top, or to stockings made without welts and having the upper portion provided wit-h a ribbed top, or selvaged, or finished in any other desired way to prevent raveling at the top. In such stockings breaking, cutting or wearing away of the stitches in the single leg web will. permit raveling in the direction in which the knitting progressed, and in welted stockings such impairment of the stitches in the -welt will have a like result, and the same is ment of the stitches in the welt or below the welt is likely to be caused by the stocking supporter, and in the heel or toe by the-excessive wear to which these portions of the stocking are subject.

The means which I have adopted for the production of the non-raveling portion of the web, is the formation of one or more narrow bands of tuck or other displaced-loop stitches in the web at the points where it is desired to arrest such raveling. In Fig. 1 of the drawing, which represents a stocking of that class produced by knitting from the top toward the toe, I-have located such bands of tuck stitchesat win the welt, at w in the upper portion of the leg of the stocking be low the welt, and at y in the foot just in advance of the heel, the welt having two tuck bands, the upper portion of the leg having three tuck bands, and the foot having a single tuck band, but single tuck bands only may be located in either of these positions. if desired. The tucking operation is preferably' continued for but a sin le course, and in any event is not continued for such a time as to produce a tucked band of any considerable width as in that class of stockings in which tucking is resorted to for the purpose of widening the web, or imparting a distinctive appearance thereto. In my improved stocking therefore those portions of the web in which the bands of tuck stitches are produced are of uniform width, the tucked bands having no distorting effect upon the web.

In that class of stockings which are developed from the toe toward the top, I can prevent-raveling back from the toe into the foot or from the heel upward into the leg by locating the tuck bands in the rear of the toe and above the heel, and in Fig. 2 I have illustrated tuck courses of stitches we thus located for the purpose.

A tuck stitch performs its function of preventing raveling by reason of the fact that the two members of the sinker wale loop between adjoining needle wales do not pass through the same aperturein the next course of stitches, thus on reference to Fig. 3, it will be noted that the member a of the sinker wale loop on each side of the tuckstitch 2 passes through the aperture (1 in course 2, while the member 7) of said sinker wale loop passes through the aperture d, in course 3.

In Fig. 4, I' have shown a tuck stitch in which the yarn of course 2 instead of being behind said tucking needle.

not only do the members a and b of the.

drawn into a loop by the tucking needle and cast off by the latter with the stitch which was held thereon, has simply been floated In this case sinker wale loop on each side of the tuck stitch 0 pass through apertures in different courses, but the members a and b on opposite sides of the float pass through different apertures in course 3, consequently the nonraveling feature applies to both courses 1 and 2.

Loops displaced by transferring a sinker Wale loop into an adjoining needle Wale or wales, as in Fig. 5, or by transferring a needle wale loop into an adjoining needle Wale or wales, as shown in Fig. 6, also accomplish the same result as the tuck stitches and are therefore within the scope of my invention. Such displaced-loop stitches, however, should be disposed so closely together that there are no raveling sinker Wale loops between them.

While I have illustrated my invention as applied to a stocking having a seamless tubular leg and foot with seamless heel and toe pocket thereon the tuck or other displaced-loop bands 'may be employed in the welt and in the upper portion of the leg whether the heels and toes are thus produced or are. produced in other ways, and the location of the said bands for preventing ravelin in the footand ankle portions of the stoc ing may be used in connection with stockings having ribbed legs.

I am aware that in stockings in which stitches of certain wales are dropped in order to fl produce varying gage openwork or lace e ects, tuck stitches have been employed to prevent running-back of the drop stitches in a direction .the reverse of that in which the knitting proceeds, but in my improved stocking the web is of uniform gage and the invention is for a different purpose, namely, the prevention of the raveling of the stitches in the direction in which the web has been produced.

I claim:

1. A plain web stocking having a single web portion of uniform gage containing one or more bands of displaced-loop stitches,

each band being of such width that it will not distort the plain web in which it occurs but will prevent raveling of said web in the direction in which the same has been produced.

2. A plain web stocking having a welt of uniform ga e containing one or more bands of displ ced-loop stitches, each band being of such width that it will not distort the plain web in which it occurs, but will prevent raveling of the web in the direction in which the same has been produced.

3. A plain web stockim having an n per single web leg portion with turned wet at the top of the same, both of uniform gage and both containing one or more bands of displaceddoop stitches, each band being of such width that it will not distort the plain web in which it occurs but will prevent raveling of the web in the direction in which the same has been produced.

4. A plain web stocking having an upper single web leg portion provided at the top with a turned welt whose turned portion is integrally united with the leg web, both of said portions of the stocking being of uniform gage and containing one or more bands of displaced-loop stitches, each band being of such width that it will not distort the plain web in which it occurs but will prevent raveling of the web in the direction in which the same has been produced.

5. A plain web stocking having a foot or ankle portion of uniform gage, provided adjacent to the heel or toe with one or more bands of displaced-loop stitches, each band being of such width that it will not distort the plain web in which it occurs but will prevent raveling of the web in the direction in which the same has been produced.

6. A plain web stocking having a foot and ankle each consisting of web of uniform gage provided behind the toe and above the heel with one or more bands of tuck stitches, each band being of such width that it will not distort the plain web in which it occurs but will prevent raveling of the web in the direction in which it was produced. a

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LORETTO A. COSTELLO. 

